Tough run continues for Hucknall Town away at unbeaten leaders Sherwood Colliery

The Yellows go there on the back of a 3-0 defeat at third-placed Lincoln United amid a testing run of three games in a row against the division's top three while Sherwood were last weekend whipping bottom club Pinchbeck 7-1 away from home.

Joint boss Louis Bland said: “We are looking forward to Saturday's game - a short trip to top of the league and title favourites Sherwood, who are undefeated so far, only drawing twice.

“The closest they came to losing was against my former side Sleaford where we were 2-0 up and wrongly put down to 10 men with 25 minutes to play - and they scored with the last kick of the game to equalise.

“They are a really good side with excellent players and pose a real challenge to us Saturday, one which my staff and players are really looking forward too

“It’s been a horrible run playing all the top three in a row, all away from home. “But the performance against Melton and 30 or so minutes against Lincoln shows we can compete and we will need to be even better on Saturday to get anything from Sherwood.

“The fans’ support as always has been tremendous and we will start repaying them back eventually with results.”

On the defeat at Lincoln, he added: “I thought we played well for the first 20 minutes and provided a good contest.

“From minute 20 to 45 we dropped our standards from previous weeks and that’s why they scored their two goals.

“Second half we made a couple of changes and I thought we were slightly better and maybe could have scored a goal to make it more competitive.

“But you can see why they are going for promotion and the best side we have face since becoming managers here.”

Fellow joint manager Reece Limbert added: "It's always disappointing to lose, but credit to Lincoln they were a well organised team defensively and ruthless with their chances.

"You can see why they are unbeaten in 10 games now and haven’t conceded in their last five either.”